I was visiting the Dark Side earlier today and saw this thread about the protest supporting the prison farms that Stevie Peevie wants to axe. It included this link.
Hundreds of farmers, local residents and prison-rights advocates who want the Conservative government to keep Canada's prison farms open set up a blockade to the regional headquarters of the Correctional Services of Canada in Kingston, Ont., on Friday morning.
About 250 people showed up for the three-hour protest, which started at around 6 a.m. along the busy street. Campaigners said they want the government to reconsider its decision to close the farms, which are being phased out by the end of this fiscal year.
"We see the farm as an effective rehabilitation and job-training program that also provides food for the prison system," said Dianne Dowling, a member of the Save Our Prison Farms committee and local representative from the National Farmers Union.
The prison service currently operates six farms — each located in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and two in Ontario.
About 300 prisoners work at the farms, operating machinery, taking care of animals and growing food for prisons.
The farms, which the prison service has operated since the 1880s, cost about $4 million annually. The government has said the money will be used to provide more relevant employment skills to rehabilitate prisoners in contemporary trades.
Several of the commenters at the Dark Side support the prison farms. For the wrong reasons of course, but nonetheless. . .
So I sent a message to my close personal Facebook friend, Connie Fournier, owner of the Dark Side, to tell her that there was another issue we could maybe work together on. In addition to the G20 insanity. I included a link to a Facebook group supporting the prison farms.
She sent a message back saying she found it creepy that we were agreeing on so much. She also said that she'd joined the group and posted the info at FD. And indeed, she did.
Anyway, I joined a facebook group to save the prison farms. It looks like Stephen Harper has managed to find yet another issue that I can agree with the lefties about. He's a uniter, for sure!
If we can't divide the Right, maybe we can work with them.
6 comments:
Renember this, fern hill?
No, actually, I didn't remember that.
Consorting with the enemy is kinda fun. When do I get my head shaved?
Well we better work together, if we don't, we're F'ing doomed.
DeB - Just be sure not to accept any Kool-Aid from anyone.
I joined the 'Keep-the Farms' group - I hope that it helps that cause.
The HarperCons seem to have taken a path which offends both ends of the the political spectrum. Without doubt Ms. Fournier is a rare specimen - she evidently judges each situation on it's actual merits.
Perhaps we should call the folks at Hinterland Who's Who - There's been a sighting (actually 2 sightings in a single fortnight) of the rare RATIONAL CON. Cue the oboes.
No I don't think we can. Not with a culture war raging in this country. And certainly not with Connie Fournier as long as she's associated with homophobic organizations like this one:
http://christiangovernment.ca/?p=757
You know what they say about right-wingers? They're either at your feet or at your THROAT.
If you want to beat the Harper Cons I suggest you spend your time, like I do, trying to unite the left. That's hard enough...
Well played, fern hill - this is the kind of thinking that gets things done.
Simon -- This isn't a zero sum game where any victory for the opposition is a loss for us. Finding common cause on one issue doesn't negate our disagreements on others. It just means that some issues transcend politics, which is as it should be, but unfortunately almost never is these days. And that's exactly how the ruling class likes it.
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